Razormind Red Flags: Going Inside Blockchain’s Kryptos. Part 1

CoinTelegraph’s investigation of the inner workings of Razormind DeOS operating system that has been subjected to a flurry of accusations ranging from scam to fraud.

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Since the announcement of the release of the Razormind DeOS operating system and the associated DEOS token crowdsale by myself in June and July of this year, there has been a flurry of accusations in online forums ranging from scam to fraud and everything in between.

CoinTelegraph have been investigating throughout this whole period, what may be hidden behind Razormind. As a result, we came to the point where Razormind can be compared to the Kryptos, a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn that is located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of the four encrypted messages it bears. Of the four messages, the first three have been solved, while the fourth message remains as one of the most famous unsolved codes in the world.

Razormind claims

Jawad Yaqub, the CEO of Razormind Ltd, first contacted me in June to write about their operations and upcoming crowdsale. I stayed in contact with Jawad and the core group for around four months afterwards. This gave me access to a lot of evidence of what was going on and I will be releasing the details throughout a few articles of which this is the first.

In relation to the allegations that Razormind and Razor, the cryptocoin that became known as Razorcoin, were connected: I can state as factual that there is no association whatsoever between the two, as the developer of Razorcoin has publicly acknowledged.

Razormind claimed to be a global company with 260 employees worldwide with offices in London, Manchester, Vancouver and Belfast. At this stage we can confirm that they have indeed different members of the core team in three of these four locations, but we can find no trace of offices except in Belfast. There is evidence of a number of freelance workers globally and an IT or data centre registered in London, but we can not find evidence to confirm the number of employees.

UK military base connection

The registered business address is based at 55 Clive Road, Holywood, Co.Down in Northern Ireland. We can confirm this is not offices nor in a residential area and that it is located inside a United Kingdom’s military base. However, we have no way to verify or deny their involvement in this business operation.

In relation to the claims that Razormind has been working on DeOS for a number of years and had 27,000 registered users. The only evidence that I can find in regards to any users in the past is in an interview done with Jawad the CEO, by the Melbourne Bitcoin Technology Centre and a Let’s Talk Bitcoin Episode 177 podcast from January 2015, where commenters underneath claim to have access to DeOS operating system.

The articles published in numerous publications in early September mention a partnership between Bitcoin Association of Northern Ireland and Razormind, as well as offices, a Blockchain lab and 20 paid interns. I can confirm this was a work in progress a number of months ago. Although discussions took place between myself on behalf of BANI with comprehensive explanations of the numerous benefits for N.Ireland, no final agreement was concluded, nor were any documents produced or signed.

There has been confirmation of a lease of offices in the prestigious Scottish Provident Building in Belfast and that the recruitment of interns is in motion, as well as proof of two Bitcoin ATMs ordered and paid for to locate in N.Ireland.

Shrouded in mystery

In relation to their claims in the article about Razormind working with banks and financial institutions on Blockchain use cases, I was provided with a list of their names, had included it in the published article only to be asked to cut it on day one by Jawad, stating that that was private information not meant for the public domain.

The DeOS tokens have and still are being distributed to those who invested in them, including myself, and the only problem we can find is that some people used the wrong types of Bitcoin wallets.

In keeping with the facts, the details on how to avoid this situation were clearly stated in the email at the beginning, and according to the Razormind Twitter account, this is being sorted for those affected as of time of writing.

In regards to the DeOS operating system, the platform seems to be released and emails for registration sent out, but I have yet to hear of anyone accessing the platform. The reason being given for this is strict AML and KYC compliance on verification of each user.

All in all, everything about Razormind is most definitely shrouded in an air of mystery which isn’t unusual for the crypto industry. We can all make assumptions as to the actual situation but to be honest, no one I have spoken to can really see the the wood for the trees in this and only in time will we know the real tale.

I would like to thank the two lawyers Arthur Rommes and Joseph Magee for their support and legal advice with this whole investigation, as well as the scambusters on Bitcointalk for some of the revelations they brought to light. I would also like to thank the Chief Editor of CoinTelegraph for his unwavering support and patience throughout all this, it won’t be forgotten.

Red flags

Neither myself, lawyers or other professionals can legally brand this as a scam or fraud.

The multiple misrepresentations however present red flags and legitimate concerns on the way this company has operated that needed to be addressed publicly. This will hopefully draw out some sort of clarification from others involved who know the bigger picture, which can help give us further insight into what the real situation is.

In this article we have just focused on the claims of Razormind and the facts we now know for sure. The next one we will be going into deeper details of the inner workings of its core group, as well as updating on any new revelations that may come to light in between.